The Context of Form

“The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.”

— Lao Tzu

I admire discourse that challenges me to think more deeply about tabletop games, whether new perspectives or ones investigating (and sometimes affirming) concepts I advocate. I often wish the adventure gaming hobby had more such discussion geared toward the kind of hobbyists and informed generalists who wander the borderlands between more steadfastly ensconced professional and scholarly game circles. Secondary education offers some promising opportunities as young people, not yet established in our staunch intellectual silos, explore and develop their own ideas on gaming subjects. Dr. Jeremiah McCall, himself an innovator in the field of games for learning, recently mentored one of his students at the Cincinnati Country Day School through a senior independent study project examining how different media — literature, film, and video games — presents the same historical event in different ways...and to different ends. It encourages us to more closely analyze how we interact with the various media we consume and how the context of form shapes its messages.

Game Aspirations for Summer

“Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”

— Heraclitus

A toast to summertime
gaming aspirations.

Our much-manipulated academic schedule calls for the local public school year to end before Memorial Day (and begin the first week in August…don’t get me started). So we’re already considering father-son gaming and history activities to stay engaged over the summer. I remain thankful my teenage son has cultivated an interest in history, one that, over the years, has matured beyond simply visiting sites and playing games into a more critical examination of our past and how we can explore it on the gaming table. This offers me some comfort in my ever-challenging efforts to engage him in anything beyond sleeping, spending time on his electronic devices, and asking what’s for dinner. He has, surprisingly, voiced an interest in several activities that would involve him in somewhat productive intellectual activity (and pry him away from his devices). Right now we have a list of very flexible objectives, but it’s a start in providing some structure to what can easily become a summer of lazy days.

Games in Magazines

 “Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”

— Marcus Aurelius

On a recent trip to the local used book store I found several issues of Game Fix magazine, a slim wargaming periodical published in the mid 1990s. Every cover sported a banner declaring “Complete Game Included!” And indeed every issue contained a wargame, many hex-and-chit-style games, but some including card sheets to cut apart. Nothing huge like the old Avalon Hill bookcase games, but satisfying morsels on a variety of historical topics. They reminded me both of the much-lamented heyday of gaming magazines in the late 20th century as well as the early practice of including scenarios and games in those publications. Both trends have since disappeared in the electronic onslaught of the 21st century’s Internet Age — with a deluge of similar material currently available for free online, if you know where to find it — but my wistful nostalgia still pines for those days...and celebrates when I find artifacts of that lost gaming culture.

Perspective “In This Moment”

 “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”

— Theodore Roosevelt

Five years ago the covid-19 pandemic hit America hard. School and businesses started to close. News stories speculated about infection methods. Toilet paper and other essentials started disappearing from store shelves. People worked from home when they could. Masks. Social distancing. People dying in droves. Everything changed. Nobody quite knew where it was going...or how it might end. It was a moment in history for those of us used to reading about, studying, or even gaming with history. Suddenly we weren’t just looking back on some distant event with full knowledge of its aftermath. Our immediate perspective offered little insight how the crisis might play out. For once we occupied the position of people throughout history, experiencing history at that moment, unable to see where it was all going, with only future uncertainty ahead. Like playing a constantly changing game, we could only “estimate the situation” to the best of our knowledge and proceed with what seemed at the time as a suitable course of action

Finding Joy in the Past Year

 “Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”

— Jane Austen

I’m slow in my New Year’s appreciations, given how numerous holiday preparations and celebrations in November and December consume my life. That said, I wanted to look back at 2024 to remind myself of the highlights that brought joy to me amid occasional heartache and disappointment...and in the face of the anxieties, hardships, and challenges I — and the world — face in 2025. The Jane Austen quote I used in my last blog post encouraged my usually pessimistic self to reflect on positive events that uplifted us throughout 2024. It comes as no surprise they’re mostly related to games, books, and history. I’m hoping these memories sustain and inspire me through the difficult times ahead.

Summer Reading Recommendations

“To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.”

— W. Somerset Maugham

Summertime. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned, but these lazy days call for the simple pleasures of books. (Though I regret, for many adults in our time, “lazy days” never really exist in any season...). We take books with us on vacation, to read in the car, at the beach, or whenever we find a moment to kick back and relax. We subject our children to local public libraries and their summer reading programs. We hope, often in vain, they’ll pick up some titles from the suggested summer reading lists sent home at the end of the school year (though I’ve not seen one since the “Before Times” prior to the covid pandemic). Do kids still read books over the summer? Is summer reading still a thing in a culture increasingly focused on its cell phones and other electronic devices? (A discussion for another time, perhaps.) In musing on the fleeting joys of summer reading, I thought I might make a few recommendations for titles which reflect my own interests in history and gaming; books I’ve read in the past Hobby Games Recce readers might also enjoy.

Twilight of Print Magazines

 “I don’t expect to live forever, but I do intend to hang on as long as possible.”

— Isaac Asimov

I’m rearranging some shelves in the office — a periodic activity, given the volume of books I have and continue adding to my collection — and I’ve come across some racks with old copies of WWII History magazine. I decided to peruse them one more time, extract any articles that interest me to arrange in a binder, and recycle the rest. The process reminded me why I like (and miss) magazines along with a few other observations.

History Is Our Story

 “That the future may learn from the past.”

– Colonial Williamsburg mission

Bamse samples: artwork by Julie Campbell and writing by Colin Maxwell.

I enjoy learning about various periods in history, from the broad picture to the smaller, more personal stories and everything in between. My engagement spans the vast landscape of media, from non-fiction books and documentaries to the more embellished films, historical novels, and, of course, games. And even comic books. So when I discovered Colin Maxwell of Maximized Comics Kickstarting another history based comic book, The Adventures of Bamse, I didn’t hesitate to back it. I’d previously backed and enjoyed his earlier true-war stories, Raid on the Forth and Flight of the Eagle, two relatively obscure episodes from World War II (well, “relatively obscure” to those of us who don’t live in Scotland...). Both draw on events related to his own local history, so I couldn’t resist supporting publication of the story of “the dog that became the mascot of the Free Norwegian Forces during the Second World War.” (At the moment the project still needs funding in the final days of the campaign – which offers the chance to also get the previous two comics, all well worth the price even considering shipping from the UK to the US.) These comics remind me how history consists of many stories great and small, far-reaching in scope yet also personal. Humans have loved storytelling throughout time...and history is our own epic tale, a larger-than-life story we can also draw upon for our games, whether historical wargames, board games, or even roleplaying games.

Culpeper’s Toy Soldier Exhibit

 “Culture arises and unfolds in and as play.”

– Johan Huizinga

On February 4 we visited the Museum of Culpeper History for a Sons of the American Revolution ceremony honoring African-Americans and Native Americans who served in the American War of Independence (AWI). I appreciate these opportunities to learn more about different aspects of history and how they affect our appreciation of our modern world. After a brief overview of the service these oft-overlooked groups gave fighting for freedom, a descendant of Revolutionary War officer Captain Phillip Slaughter spoke about his enslaved servant Spencer accompanying him on campaign in New Jersey, Valley Forge, and elsewhere, taking care of horses and the mess and otherwise supporting Patriot armies in the field. The gallery was packed – the previously planned outdoor ceremony was moved indoors given the forecast cold weather – and we luckily found a spot to stand in a corner of the Civil War gallery next to an exhibit of Civil War toy soldiers made in France. It reminded me I hadn’t taken any photos of these game-related artifacts before, and returned later that week to take pictures for my own reference (and to share) lest the exhibit change in the near future.

History Lost/Gained in the Pandemic

 “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.”

– Aldous Huxley

The covid-19 pandemic forced many to alter our lives for the sake of the common good in overcoming a novel virus. Everyone’s lost something. If we’re lucky we only lost more than a year of life’s normal activities, routines, and special events. The less fortunate lost jobs, homes, and, worst of all, loved ones. (I discussed some of my own disappointments before in “The 2020 that Might Have Been.”) Hopefully we’ve gained a little something from these experiences...a perspective on what we lost, how much it meant, and how we might appreciate it all the more in the future. We’re still dealing with covid-19, managing our comfort levels, health, and vaccination status against the risks of returning to the way we did things in the “Before Times” as I sarcastically call them. A “normal” school year for students ranks among the losses young people sustained. Partial in-person learning and part- or full-time distance learning online focused on the most central of the core subjects – math, reading, science – and what little history they had studied earlier simply dropped off the academic map. Luckily for our household we try fostering and engaging an interest in history through films and games.

Father-Son History-Wargaming Weekend 2020

My son and I spent an extended weekend immersing ourselves in history and wargaming in what is becoming an annual tradition. I took him out of school on Friday so we could leave early and spend the afternoon at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, then attended the Williamsburg Muster wargaming convention, and finally visited Historic Jamestowne before heading home Sunday. (Our school system doesn’t get Presidents’ Day off....) Our son’s fourth grade curriculum includes “Virginia Studies” for social studies, a subject he already enjoys and which we’ve indulged with additional trips to historic sites during the past year. He’s also interested in games, including historical wargames, so the weekend provided an opportunity to engage with both history and games.